Is It Better To Have Loved And Lost? Series

Two men were discussing the subject of love. The first one says, "I thought I was in love three times,"

"What do you mean ‘Thought you were in love?" asks the second guy. "Well, three years ago, I cared very deeply for a woman who wanted nothing to do with me," said the first.

"Wasn’t that love?" asks the second. "No, that was just obsession. Then two years ago, I cared very deeply for an attractive woman who didn’t understand me."

"Well, wasn’t that love?" asks the second. "No, that was lust," says the first. "And just last year, I met a woman while I was on a world cruise. She was gorgeous, intelligent, a great conversationalist and had a super sense of humor. Everywhere I followed her on that ship, I would get a very strange sensation in the pit of my stomach."

"Was that love?" asks the second guy. "No. That was just sea sickness!" said the first.

Christian Pick-up lines

I came across the top 8 cheesiest Christian chat-up lines:

8. Wow... Nice Bible!

7. Did it hurt... when you fell from heaven?

6. Just looking at you makes me feel all ecumenical.

5. Before tonight I never believed in pre-destination.

4. You know I’m really into ‘relationship’ evangelism

3. Is it a sin that you stole my heart?

2. Nice bracelet – WWJD – ‘Who would Jesus Date’?

1. Excuse me, I believe one of you ribs belongs to me!

The Power of love

Love is a strange thing isn’t it. It’s a feeling that practically defies definition. Just four little letters L O V E, that, when combined, equal one of the most powerful emotions a human being can experience. We spend the entire course of our lives giving and receiving love. We thrive on it, we revel in it, we delight in its existence. And yet there are times when we curse it, when we despise it for the pain that it leaves in its wake.

I think Huey Lewis got it right in his song ‘The power of love’:

The power of love is a curious thing

Makes one man weep, and another man sing

First time you feel it, it might make you sad,

Next time you feel it, it might make you mad,

But you’ll be glad when you’ve found,

It’s the power that makes the world go round.

Love has the ability to take us to the greatest highs in life – and then plunge us into the greatest depths of despair. Love brings with it the greatest joys you will ever know – but it can also bring the greatest, heart breaking sorrow that you will ever be called upon to bare.

There are few things in life that have the ability to cut us as deeply as the moment in which love is lost. The intense heartache, and pain that follows can lead us to feel as though we will never breathe again, that our hearts will never heal, that our tears will never stop flowing, that joy will never again find its way into our lives.

In 1833 Alfred Lord Tennison’s best friend, a guy called Arthur Hallam, died suddenly. And his death threw Tennison into a tormented and near suicidal state. And it was out of that pain, and out of that sorrow, and out of that depression, and out of that heartache, and out of that grief that Tennison penned those immortal words:

‘I hold it true, whate’er befall;

I feel it, when I sorrow most;

’Tis better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all.

‘Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all’. That is probably easier believed if you are enjoying the abundance of joy and laughter and excitement that love brings, but not so easy if you are carrying the pain and the hurt of a lost love. But I’m sure we all know what Tennison meant when he wrote that sentiment. A life lived without ever experiencing love would be a life not worth living.

Is it better to have loved and lost with God

‘Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all’. But is the same statement true when it is applied to our relationship with God? Is the same statement true when it is applied to our relationship with our fellow believers? Is the same statement true when it is applied to the church?

In Revelation Chapter 2 and verse 4, Jesus is writing to the church in Ephesus and he says this (and I have used the New Living Translation on purpose) ‘But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first.’ The NIV says, ‘Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.’ But if you have the study bible, look in the notes and you will see that it defines ‘first love’ as – the love they had at first for one another and for Christ’.